Trouser guard for coat hangers



Jan. 1, 1963 w. F. TUFTS TROUSER GUARD FOR COAT HANGERS Filed March 21, 1957 IN VEN TOR.

United States Patent 3,071,298 TROUSER GUARD FOR COAT HANGERS William F. Tufts, 2116 Peachtree Road NW., Atlanta 9, Ga. Filed Mar. 21, 1957, Ser. No. 647,643 2 Claims. (Cl. 223-98) This invention relates to garment supports and has as its object to provide an improved trouser guard for use with wire hangers.

In general use with wire hangers, and particularly in the cleaning industry, is a guard strip employed across the horizontal bar portion of the hanger.

Inherent in the use of such article is the problem, among others, of preventing unwanted disengagement of the guard strip from the hanger. Another problem frequently encountered with the subject article is its sensitivity to moisture. Being generally made of paper, in excessive humid conditions the guard becomes soft and thereby loses its efiectiveness as a trouser support.

The chief object, therefore, of this invention is to provide an improved trouser guard having superior strength and possessing means for locking to the wire hanger and being practical and economical to produce.

In describing the details of this invention general reference is first made to the figures as follows:

FIGURE 1 shows a wire hanger equipped with a trouser guard of this invention.

FIGURE 2 shows the locking feature in greater detail.

FIGURE 3 shows the construction of the locking feature as well as that of the guard.

FIGURE 4 shows engagement of the guard of this invention with a wire hanger.

FIGURE 5 shows a variation of the structure of FIG- URE 3.

FIGURE 6 shows a section 15-15 through the guard strip of FIGURE 3 after forming into the inverted channel shape.

Referring now to the figures separately, the features of the invention will be described in detail.

The guard 1 of FIGURE 1 is equipped at its ends 2 with the locking feature of this invention by which it is secured to the hanger 3.

The details of the locking feature are shown in enlarged view in FIGURE 2. Here the wire slot 4 is gained access to by the wire through the slits 5 and 6 of the laminated guard.

This is more evident in FIGURE 3 where the guard structure is shown as being laminated from 2 strips of material. The laminating material 12 is shown omitted from the flap area 7 so the two free flaps 7 and 8 result when the laminate structure is completed.

FIGURE 4 shows the function of the flaps 7 and 8 to allow entry of the wire hanger 3.

It is thus evident that once the engagement is completed disengagement of the guard from the hanger is very diflicult, regardless of from which edge a disengaging force is applied.

FIGURE 5 shows URE 2. Here a flap 9 is applied to the guard 10 having an ordinary wire-receiving slit 11. It is evident that the a variation of the structure of FIG-' "ice flap 9, which overlaps the slit, forms an effective obstruction against disengagement of the guard from a hanger.

Reference is made above, in describing FIGURE 3, to the laminating material 12 and also to moisture resistance as an objective to the invention. In FIGURE 6, which is the section 15-15 through the guard structure of FIG- URE 3, the ply sheets 13 and 14 and the laminate material 12 are shown formed together into the proper cross-sectional shape. Such formation is done while the laminate material 12 is still in a plastic state with setting occurring after the desired shape is accomplished, thus resulting in a fixed or shear relationship between the two ply strips 13 and 14. In order for such a structure to change its shape a sliding or shearing motion must occur between the two strips. With a moisture resistant laminating agent 12, a guard of such structure is highly elfective in retaining its shape under the most adverse humidity and load conditions. By the proper choice of resins as the laminating agent the structure has been found to be so strong that a considerable cost saving has been found possible by the reduction of paper thickness and over-all width of the guard strip.

The above description is not intended to include every possible detail and variation of this invention, but rather is meant to be exemplary of the spirit thereof.

What I claim is:

1. A garment hanger guard comprising two elongated strips of sheet material bonded together by an adhesive material, each of said strips respectively having an aperture at each of its end portions, each of said strips respectively having a slit extending from the periphery of each of its end portions intersecting each of said apertures with the slits of the opposed end portions of said strips being offset with respect to each other, and an area on each strip adjacent each of said slits, at one side of said slits, devoid of adhesive material, said area on one strip being placed in registry with the corresponding area on the other strip to form substantially resilient free locking flaps at the end of each of said strips.

2. A clothes hanger trouser guard comprised of elongated superposed strips of substantially resilient material, each strip having a pair of apertures therein spaced from the ends and aligned along the centerline thereof, respectively, each end of each strip having a slit formed therein offset from the centerline thereof and extending to said apertures, respectively, with the slits being on opposite sides of the common centerline, and means uniting the strips into an integral unit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 593,748 Lapsley et a1 Nov. 16, 1897 1,904,999 Reed Apr. 25, 1933 2,107,003 Johnson Feb. 1, 1938 2,585,715 Youngblood Feb. 12, 1952 2,590,738 Tufts Mar. 25, 1952 2,786,618 Emmerling Mar. 26, 1957 2,843,299 Tillery July 15, 1958 2,859,903 Tufts Nov. 11, 1958 

1. A GARMENT HANGER GUARD COMPRISING TWO ELONGATED STRIPS OF SHEET MATERIAL BONDED TOGETHER BY AN ADHESIVE MATERIAL, EACH OF SAID STRIPS RESPECTIVELY HAVING AN APERTURE AT EACH OF ITS END PORTIONS, EACH OF SAID STRIPS RESPECTIVELY HAVING A SLIT EXTENDING FROM THE PERIPHERY OF EACH OF ITS END PORTIONS INTERSECTING EACH OF SAID APERTURES WITH THE SLITS OF THE OPPOSED END PORTIONS OF SAID STRIPS BEING OFFSET WITH RESPECT TO EACH OTHER, AND AN AREA ON EACH STRIP ADJACENT EACH OF SAID SLITS, AT ONE SIDE OF SAID SLITS, DEVOID OF ADHESIVE MATERIAL, SAID AREA ON ONE STRIP BEING PLACED IN REGISTRY WITH THE CORRESPONDING AREA ON THE OTHER STRIP TO FORM SUBSTANTIALLY RESILIENT FREE LOCKING FLAPS AT THE END OF EACH OF SAID STRIPS. 